Bonaventura Cerretti

Bonaventura Cerretti (17 June 1872 – 8 May 1933) was an Italian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura from 1931 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1925.

His Eminence Bonaventura Cerretti
Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Appointed	12 October 1931
Term ended	8 May 1933
Predecessor	Francesco Ragonesi
Successor	Enrico Gasparri
Other posts	Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore (1930–33) Camerlengo of the College of Cardinals (1933) Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri (1933)
Orders
Ordination	31 March 1895 by Tancredo Fausti
Consecration	19 July 1914 by Rafael Merry del Val y Zulueta
Created cardinal	14 December 1925 by Pope Pius XI
Rank	Cardinal-Priest (1926–33) Cardinal-Bishop (1933)
Personal details
Birth name	Bonaventura Cerretti
Born	17 June 1872 Comune de Bardono, Orvieto, Kingdom of Italy
Died	8 May 1933(1933-05-08) (aged 60) Rome, Kingdom of Italy
Buried	Santa Maria in Trastevere
Parents	Faustino Cerretti Maria Custodi
Previous post	Titular Archbishop of Philippopolis (1914) Titular Archbishop of Corinthus (1914–25) Apostolic Delegate to Australia (1914–17) Secretary of the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs (1917–21) Apostolic Nuncio to France (1921–25) Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to France (1925–26) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia (1926–33)
Alma mater	Pontifical Gregorian University
Motto	Robur in fide
Coat of arms

Styles of Bonaventura Cerretti
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Velletri (suburbicarian see)

Cardinal Cerretti (in robe) with Queensland Premier William McCormack, about to place a wreath at Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, 17 September 1928

Biography

Bonaventura Cerretti was born in Orvieto and educated at the seminary in Spoleto and, later, at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome as well as the Royal University, Rome. He was ordained in 1895, and taught Latin and Italian classics at the Vatican Seminary.[1] He was then invited to become a staff member in the Vatican Secretariat of State where he worked from 1899 until 1904. He was created Privy chamberlain of His Holiness on 13 January 1904. He then served as secretary to the apostolic delegate in Mexico from 1904 to 1906 then as auditor in the apostolic delegation to the United States from 1906 to 1914. Cerretti contributed the article "Legate" to the Catholic Encyclopedia.[1]

He was appointed as Titular Archbishop of Philippopolis in Thracia on 15 April 1914 by Pope Pius X. He was transferred to the titular see of Corinth on 10 May 1914.[1] He was consecrated as a bishop on 19 July 1914 by Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, Cardinal Secretary of State. He was appointed as the first apostolic delegate to Australia—the delegation then responsible for Australia and New Zealand—on 10 May 1914.[2] On 6 May 2017, he was assigned to the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs in Rome.[3]

He represented the Holy See at the Paris Peace Conference from May to June 1919; he tried without success to get the Great Powers to accept a set of principles for peace proposed by Pope Benedict XV. He was appointed to serve as Apostolic Nuncio to France in 1921.

In 1925 he was made Cardinal-Priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere by Pope Pius XI in the consistory of 14 December 1925. In 1928 he revisited Australia as papal legate to the 29th International Eucharistic Congress in Sydney; as part of this visit, he laid the foundation stone for the Holy Name Cathedral, Brisbane (which was never completed).[4]

In 1926 he negotiated with Aristide Briand an agreement giving the French interior and foreign ministers a role in the appointment of French diocesan bishops (i.e. outside Alsace-Moselle where special arrangements apply).

He was appointed as archpriest of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on 16 July 1930. Pope Pius appointed him as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura on 12 October 1931. He opted for the order of cardinal bishops, taking the suburbicarian see of Velletri in 1933. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, 1933; he died shortly after.

In 1930 in Rome he was painted by his friend the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947). The picture is believed to hang in the Palazzo Municipale di Orvieto.[5]

Cerretti died in Rome and was buried in the basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. The chapel at St Patrick's Seminary, Manly in Sydney, Australia is named after him.

References

1. "Cerretti, Most Reverend Bonaventure", The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers, New York, the Encyclopedia Press, 1917, p. 28 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
2. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). VI. 1914. p. 380. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
3. Acta Apostolicae Sedis (PDF). IX. 1917. p. 301. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
4. "Holy Name Cathedral". The Longreach Leader (Qld. : 1923 - 1954). Qld.: National Library of Australia. 21 September 1928. p. 26. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
5. E. Cerretti, Il Cardinale Bonaventura Cerretti, Rome, 1939, p. 157, and Plate XIII, (opposite p. 368).

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Vincenzo Vannutelli	Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore 16 July 1930 – 8 May 1933	Succeeded by Angelo Dolci
Preceded by Francesco Ragonesi	Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura 12 October 1931 – 8 May 1933	Succeeded by Enrico Gasparri
Preceded by Basilio Pompili	Cardinal-Bishop of Velletri 13 March 1933 – 8 May 1933	Succeeded by Enrico Gasparri
Preceded by Luigi Sincero	Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals 1933	Succeeded by Achille Locatelli